Content Refresh

1---
2name: content-refresh
3description: >
4  Find which of a small business's blog posts bring leads and calls, and fix the ones that slip:
5  an inventory from the post list, Search Console, leads by landing page and a spot check of AI
6  answers; a keep, refresh, merge or remove decision for each post; safe updates that keep URLs;
7  and a one-minute monthly report for the owner that leads with leads and calls. Use this skill
8  for a content audit, "is the blog working?", a traffic drop, outdated or old posts, content
9  pruning, merging duplicate posts, a monthly content report, or blog performance.
10---
11
12# Content Refresh: Know Which Posts Bring Leads, and Fix the Ones That Slip
13
14**RULE: Judge each post by the leads and calls it brings, then by search. Keep every URL that
15earns links or visits. Change the updated date only when the content changed in a real way.**
16
17Most small-business blogs have a few posts that bring almost all the leads, and many that
18bring none. A monthly check keeps the good posts current and stops weak posts from competing
19with them. It takes less time than a new post and often earns more.
20
21## 1. Build the inventory
22
23One row per post. Use the last 3 months, and the same 3 months a year ago for seasonal
24businesses.
25
26| Column | Source |
27|---|---|
28| Slug, title, category, published, updated | Launch: `list_posts`. Other sites: the sitemap or the CMS export. |
29| Hub service page | The post's main service link (`content-blog-post`, step 4) |
30| Leads | Leads whose `utm` data points to the post (`utm_campaign` or `utm_content` equal to the slug; `launch-lead-capture`), plus `generate_lead` key events on the post's path (`Lead Submitted` on the site; `google-analytics`) |
31| Calls | `call_click` events on the post (`Call Clicked` on the site; `launch-landing-page`, `google-analytics`) |
32| Clicks, impressions, average position | Search Console, Pages report, filtered to the post URL |
33| Top 3 queries | Search Console, Queries for that page |
34| Change vs last period | Clicks and leads, up or down |
35| AI answer citation | From step 2 |
36| Facts that may be stale | Prices, years, counts, product models, rules in the post |
37
38Use `references/inventory-template.md` for the sheet and the Search Console steps.
39
40## 2. Spot-check AI answers
41
42Pick about 10 key customer questions from the topic plan (`content-topic-plan`). Ask each in
43Google (AI Overview or AI Mode), ChatGPT and Perplexity, from the business's area if possible.
44Note:
45
46- Is the business's post cited or linked? Which sources are?
47- Does the answer contradict the post? Then either the post is wrong (fix it) or the answer
48  is (make the post's answer block clearer, with the source).
49- What do the cited pages have that the post does not: a clear answer in the first lines, a
50  number, a table, a date, a named expert?
51
52This is a spot check, not a ranking report. Answers change by person, place and day.
53
54## 3. Decide: keep, refresh, merge or remove
55
56| Decision | When | What to do |
57|---|---|---|
58| **Keep** | Brings leads or calls, facts are current | Nothing. Check again next quarter. |
59| **Refresh** | Brings visits or leads, but clicks fell, position slipped, facts are stale or the answer is weak | Update facts, answer block, proof, links; step 4 |
60| **Merge** | Two or more posts answer the same question and split the visits | Move the best parts into the stronger URL; 308 redirect the others to it |